The present invention is related to the field of skate blade sharpening systems for sharpening the blades of ice skates.
A variety of sharpening systems are known for sharpening skate blades. Historically, sharpening has been done on “complete” skates, i.e., skates with blades that are permanently or semi-permanently attached. For example, the blade may be secured to a blade holder portion (typically molded plastic) which is mounted to an upper skate boot. Sharpening systems have been designed accordingly. In particular, the systems have been designed with an assumption that a user can grasp and manipulate a skate boot and/or blade holder portion as needed to bring the skate blade into a position to be clamped and retained during sharpening.
More recently there is increasing use of skates with user-removable skate blades, enabling a skater to easily swap blades as might be desired for good performance. The removable blades, also referred to as “loose” blades herein, are long and narrow, measuring perhaps one inch in height when the blade is oriented horizontally as it is in use. The increasing use of such removable blades presents new challenges with respect to blade sharpening. First is a functional challenge—the need to sharpen a loose blade rather than a blade attached to a skate. More generally, players at all levels, including those who might not own multiple pairs of skates, may prefer to own several pairs of blades and swap them as often as they need to. This increases demand for sharpening, including at sub-professional levels where players are becoming more accustomed to always having sharp edges when playing. Thus, a second challenge has an economic component—to provide quality sharpening at lower cost to make it more accessible to a larger number of players. Cost requirements of course translate to technical requirements in the sense of favoring technical solutions that are relatively simple, accessible, and of low cost to manufacture and maintain.